Craig Key, the media director of agency space150, started this 2014 South by Southwest Interactive session by introducing the idea that trying to go viral is a flawed mentality and we shouldn’t aspire to it. He explained that early viral videos happened when there was a fraction of the content being added as there is today, so it is getting harder and harder to ¨go viral¨ in the first place.

The main sticking point of why the idea going viral sucks it the mindset that luck is more important than planning and being witty is more important than being strategic. Instead, agencies and companies alike should focus on what they are really after. After all, Key stressed, viral is an outcome, not a strategy (just as winning the lottery should not be your retirement strategy).

Viral #Fails

Key then covered a few examples of viral fails. One was the Harlem Shake, which has over 2.9 million versions that people have uploaded on YouTube. Key states that:

¨ every brand did not need their own harlem shake. This is not how we create a brand/marketing strategy.¨

Key Takeaways

The Importance of Content + Distribution: The truth is that most brands are not very good publishers. To get good, Key said brands should look at how publishers build their brands. As an example, 50% of any movie production budget is spent on marketing. According to Key, ¨brands making great content have only finished half the job of publishing.¨ This means that brands must also advertise it.

On Overall Strategy:¨Small changes every day will have much greater impact than trying to make the world’s best post one time.¨

Own the newsfeed through paid campaigns and engagement: When brands have engagement, it creates a story. If you aren’t thinking of it as making stories for your brand, then you’re not doing it right.

Create more occasions to buy: Align digital strategy with business goals.

When knowing when your content is good versus great: Don’t strive for perfect when you can ship great right now.¨

When she's not editing and scheduling posts, managing the Marketing Nerds podcast, or helping with events and webinars, Kelsey Jones helps clients around the world grow their social media, content, and search marketing presence under her agency, MoxieDot. She has been working in digital marketing since 2007 and journalism since 2004. Kelsey enjoys writing and consuming all kinds of content, both in digital and tattered paperback form.